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Excerpt from "Louis Pasteur and His Work" by Patrick Geddes and J. Arthur Thomson. you may recognize from scientific hypothesis or mathematical theories. If ____. The first of five early stage clinical trials to test the safety and ability of. specific objections we take to be three—that as the micro-organism of rabies.
M. Pasteur, one of the scientific glories of France, made to-day experiments in connexion with his latest researches. 'Pasteur, Roux and Rabies: Scientific vs. Clinical Mentalities', Journal of the History of Medicine, 45. (1990): 341-65 (1990).
In contrast, victims of canine bite rabies display only focal weakness, usually in the limb that was bitten. In addition to the clinical findings of rabies. The origins of modern rabies treatment.
What Was The Problem With Niels Bohr Modify Rutherford's Model Gender And Pathology In The Yellow Wallpaper Moira showed up to assist Tate in corpse disposal and offered her take on his pathology: "I think you should get. Locked up
of the Overseas Pasteur Institutes. 307. tegration" (classical science versus modem science) and the expansion strategies of the. The new concepts and mentality arising. tient acupuncture clinic she was the right hand of the clinic director who. He tackled rabies, an uncommon but always fatal disease whose.
PCR analysis of the tissue at the CDC implicates a strain of the rabies virus associated with. Pasteur, Roux and rabies: Scientific versus clinical mentalities.
Pasteur, Roux, and Rabies: Scientific versus Clinical Mentalities. GERALD L. GEISON. HIS essay has one central argument: that Louis Pasteur and mile Roux.
Jul 18, 2012. Our policies are based on a thorough review of the scientific. that are offensive, abusive, profane, or personal attacks will be removed.. It is the pet owner that is the customer at the vet clinic – we pay the vet bill, my mind made up – don't try and introduce me to any facts" mentality.. Ishtar Roux.
What Feature Of Aristotle's Model Of The Universe Was Included In The Model Proposed By Copernicus? The Copernican Revolution A. Copernicus the Revolutionary B. Galileo the Defender. Epicycles Introduced to explain retrograde (westward) motion of planets The. What feature of Aristotle's model of the universe was
Keywords: Semple, carbolic acid, live vaccine, Pasteur, rage du laboratoire, Gerald L. Pasteur, Roux, and Rabies: Scientific versus Clinical Mentalities.
He became a freelance scientific consultant who advised on a range of agricultural. Their ultimate goal was to identify the organism responsible for the 'White Death' — tuberculosis. Pasteur versus.
"We expect our work to lead to scientific breakthroughs in understanding and developing. the release said. Dr. Suzanna Frints, a clinical geneticist at Maastricht, says molecular genetic probes can.
response to queries about issues involving the histories of science, music, tants and interns who took on tasks at one time or another over the years: Hans Allhoff. ded in this mindset is hostility to the idea that discriminating judgments are. The clinical descriptions of disease. Louis Pasteur invents a rabies vaccine.
Jan 7, 2015. Pasteur was also an early figure in the history of virology for his 1885 discovery of a. Thus, his first major scientific discovery, at 26 years of age, was as a chemist. And, he put forward the notion of aerobic versus anaerobic microbes. Following Roux's example, Pasteur attenuated the rabies agent by.
Or perhaps stories of tuberculosis would be more accurate.. and Gerald Geison, "Pasteur, Roux and Rabies: Scientific versus Clinical Mentalities," Journal of.
But as rabies is a disease of the nervous system, together with Emile Roux, Louis. Given the numbers, Louis Pasteur set up a special rabies vaccination clinic.
of life-extensionism, as a particular form of scientific enterprise, to particular prevalent. et pratique des maladies des vieillards (Clinical and practical treatise on the diseases of. and viral strains) against a panoply of diseases – chicken cholera, rabies, prolongation were not to be found in either Pasteur or Bernard, the.
This chapter reviews the rabies vaccines for humans as well as for domestic animals.. Pasteur, Roux, and rabies: Scientific versus clinical mentalities. J. Hist.
Did Isaac Newton Ever Marry A previous holder of the prestigious post was the 17th-century British scientist Isaac Newton. Hawking eventually put. Characteristically, he did not see the trip as a mere birthday present. Letting
Gender And Pathology In The Yellow Wallpaper Moira showed up to assist Tate in corpse disposal and offered her take on his pathology: "I think you should get. Locked up inside a room with corroding yellow wallpaper,
Louis Pasteur was a French biologist, microbiologist and chemist renowned for his discoveries. The difference between smallpox vaccination and anthrax or chicken cholera. "Pasteur, Roux, and Rabies: Scientific Clinical Mentalities".
As a result, Pasteur's rabies treatment, while far from the greatest. "Louis Pasteur," Dictionary of Scientific Biography (1974), 10: 350-416; Geison, "Pasteur , Roux, and. Rabies: Scientific versus Clinical Mentalities," Journal of the History of.
Sep 13, 2003. UNESCO. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. US. Africa but have not always prevented rabies outbreaks, particu- larly when. tends towards endemism with little or no clinical manifesta- tion, and the. Gradwell DV, Schutte AP, van Niekerk CA, Roux DJ. The isolation.
KEYWORDS: History of Science, Vaccines, Jenner, Pasteur, Virus Attenuation.. "Pasteur, Roux, and Rabies: Scientific versus Clinical Mentalities". Journal of.
Francis Bacon Artist Wikipedia Microwave Faraday Cage Screen Steve Tyler, of the Gin Tub, blames social media for "killing pubs". He has built an electronic shield, known as a Faraday cage, into the walls
Linguistics English Morphology Exercises "I kept hearing how emoji is the fastest growing language, or it's some new type of language," says Reidy, a Spanish and linguistics double major who recently completed her honors
Mention or discussion of individuals in an essay often includes refer-. Essays of an Information Scientist, 1992-93: Of Nobel Class, Women in Science, American Society for Clinical Investigation. 10:50. "fortress science" mentality 14:283. Pasteur, Louis 9:321, 10:1179, 11:31, Roux's Archives of Developmental.


If you would like to book places for the supper club, please email clare@thesuppertable.co.uk. As we are very small, it is not possible to turn up without an advance booking. Look forward to meeting you.
"I and 7 friends and family dined at the Supper Table run by Clare. Hors d'oeuvres included scallops, main course chicken and dessert was CHOCOLATE. The food was so delicious and showed Clare's gourmet expertise. Thank you Clare for a most wonderful evening and wonderful food. We'll be back."
"Hired The Supper Table for a Christmas get together. With a lot of my friends having young children going out isn't always easy. But a relaxing night in with Clare's amazing cooking was better than any evening in a restaurant.We all felt utterly spoiled. Clare was incredibly professional and made the night run really smoothly. I would highly recommend her to anyone.
"A delectable and varied menu with food that is so fresh and delicious. Clare provided a very professional service which for us included detailed instructions on how to set up each course. It was so lovely to spend quality time with our friends and not run around preparing the courses ourselves.
Definitely looking forward to booking again. Thank you Clare."
" Recently we celebrated our Ruby Wedding at home with a family gathering of 12 people ranging from 4 to 65 in age. Clare provided a personal and totally bespoke service from start to finish. She adapted the menu to suit the preferences of teenage boys, traditional British no frills taste as well as satisfying the other half of the family who are real foodies. The quantities were generous and the food arrived with all the trimmings to present it beautifully. We paid a small supplement to avoid the washing up by having the used dishes collected unwashed. This was perfect. Excellent food at a sensible price. Thank you Clare."
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Just let it be
One of the biggest lessons I've learned this year is about letting things be. It's come as sort of a necessity given that one of my super powers is to initiate.Initiate connection, conversation, business deals, proposals… you name it and I my friend will probably go out and make it happen.
And they say that how you do one thing is how you do everything.
So what if you just kept pushing? You saw the opening ,however small, and you tried to wedge your way into the opportunity, practically forcing yourself, because you believe that otherwise you'll miss out on this ripe occasion?
In that effort is it possible to be the gentle, well-intentioned gorilla that mistakingly crushes the fragile circumstances that sit in our hands?
At the root of over-work is fear of loss.
Loss of the client, the deal, the girl.
At the root of subpar effort is fear of failure.
Public humiliation, validation of your worst fears of not being good enough, etc.
After every great run, lays rest, the wait, the pause.
It's a critical stage of everything we do in life.
So in moments of near burn out, where you say I'm just going to push a little bit harder, ask yourself if you're starving or feel hungry?
If you're starving, you're pushing too hard. Fall back soldier. This is where you can become the gentle giant that crushes opportunities due to impatience, ego and fear.
But if you feel hungry, then it's quite feasible you're entering the last leg of a sprint to a finish line determined by you. That's probably a green light to keep going.
And the thing about the finish lines of life is that there really aren't any. A finish line says that you get to stop, that you've run enough and you've won, lost, whatever. There are snacks at the end and raving fans with high fives and signs and painted faces.
What most of us do is we try to keep running. We fly by the raving fans, snacks and the wins and losses because we never said it was ok to stop. Maybe in some effort to prove to others that we're strong, efficient, effective, whatever, we just assert the idea of ""no rest needed"". And eventually we reach a point of starvation, our bodies drained, our souls saddened by the isolation of the life-long lone run, we're angry that things aren't turning out in our favor and why did we ever start this stupid run anyways?
No animal runs forever. It isn't natural.
So stop running.
Fear aside, deal aside, girl aside.
Just let it be.
I'm telling you it's ok to stop and that for many of us, especially the hyper-iniatitors, it may be the very thing that will change our lives.
Business, Life, Marketing & SalesLalita Ballesteros August 28, 2012 how to let things be, how to relax, how to stop trying, how to succeed, just let it be
The lure of perfection
Business, LifeLalita Ballesteros August 29, 2012 how to be successful, how to initiate change, how to relax, how to ship
The fire of adversity
Business, LifeLalita Ballesteros August 27, 2012 how to overcome adversity, how to overcome obstacles

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


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DanceFest and screenings head to a town near you
Jan. 14, 2020 Updated: Jan. 14, 2020 2 p.m.
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice will be screened on Jan. 21 at 7:30 p.m. at the Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford Street, Fairfield. Tickets are $10. For more information, visit fairfieldtheatre.org.
Greenwich Entertainment / Contributed photo
Valentine's Day Fundraiser: featuring Lifehouse, Feb. 14, 6:30 p.m., Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Rd., Ridgefield. Champagne, desserts, live auction. Tickets: $135. Info: ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
New Wave Dance Party Fundraiser, Feb. 7, 8 p.m., Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford St., Fairfield. Tickets: $25. Info: fairfieldtheatre.org.
DanceFest 2020: Master Dance Classes, Jan. 19, 6 p.m., The Palace Theatre, 61 Atlantic St., Stamford. Cost: $18-$39. Info: palacestamford.org.
All My Sons, Jan. 19, 2 p.m., Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Rd., Ridgefield. Tickets: $15-$25. Info: ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
Linda Ronstadt: The Sound of My Voice, Jan. 21, 7:30 p.m., Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford St., Fairfield. Tickets: $10. Info: fairfieldtheatre.org.
Porgy and Bess, Feb. 1, 12:55 p.m., Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Rd., Ridgefield. Tickets: $15-$25. Info: ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
Oscar Shorts: Live Action, Feb. 3, 7:30 p.m., Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford St., Fairfield. Tickets: $15. Info: fairfieldtheatre.org.
Oscar Shorts: Animation, Feb. 5, 7:30 p.m., Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford St., Fairfield. Tickets: $15. Info: fairfieldtheatre.org.
Giselle, performed by The Bolshoi Ballet, Feb. 16, 12:55 p.m., Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Rd., Ridgefield. Tickets: $15-$25. Info: ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
Swan Lake, performed by The Bolshoi Ballet, Feb. 23, 12:55 p.m., Ridgefield Playhouse, 80 East Ridge Rd., Ridgefield. Tickets: $15-$25. Info: ridgefieldplayhouse.org.
David Crosby: Remember My Name, Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m., Fairfield Theatre Company, 70 Sanford St., Fairfield. Tickets: $10. Info: fairfieldtheatre.org.
Call for Art with the theme "Memories," Bruce S. Kershner Gallery in the Fairfield Public Library, 1080 Old Post Rd., Fairfield. Art show runs Jan. 25-March 21, during library hours. Reception: Jan. 31, 6-8 p.m. Submission deadline: Jan. 23, 9-11 a.m. or 5-7 p.m. Entry cost: $25. Info: fairfieldpubliclibrary.org/ourcommunity/bruce-s-kershner-gallery/, bskgallery@gmail.com, 203-246-9065.
Evita Auditions, Feb. 2, 3 p.m.; Feb. 3, 7 p.m., The Wilton Playshop, 15 Lovers Ln., Wilton. Callbacks, Feb. 6, 7 p.m. Musical runs April 24-May 9. Strong singers, dancers, and actors from ages 7 to 70 encouraged to audition. Info: wiltonplayshop.org/auditions.
Independent Filmmakers Sought: The Brookfield Arts Commission invites independent filmmakers who live and/or film in CT and bordering states (MA, NY, and RI) to submit their short films through Film Freeway at filmfreeway.com/ShortsandtothePoint by Feb. 14. Afternoon of Regional Short Films: Brookfield Film Festival, April 3-5. Info/Tickets: BACReservations@gmail.com or by telephone at 203-740-2034.
One Book One Town (OBOT) Writing Contest, Submission deadline, Feb. 21, 5 p.m. Winners will be notified by March 5. Info: fairfieldpubliclibrary.org/OBOT.
Artists/Curators Sought, The Curatorial Committee for the Kershner Gallery in the Fairfield Public Library seeks area artists and art lovers interested in serving as curators. This volunteer job involves attending monthly Tuesday morning meetings at the library. Info: 646-258-6912.
Call for Artists, The Curatorial Committee for the Kershner Gallery in the Fairfield Library seeks more artists to show in late 2020 and in 2021. Submission details: fairfieldpubliclibrary.org/our-community/bruce-s-kershner-gallery/. Info: bskgallery@gmail.com, 203-246-9065.
Call for Artists, The Curatorial Committee for the Kershner Gallery in the Fairfield Library, 1080 Old Post Rd., Fairfield seeks area artists to apply to be in a three-person show in 2020. Info: fairfieldpubliclibrary.org/our-community/bruce-s-kershner-gallery, 203-259-8026.


Around the turn of the millenium cellist Yo Yo Ma began gathering musicians from nations that were part of the ancient silk road trade network. From the beginning there were two reasons: the first was to see what music could be made with these combinations of instruments. And the second was to show an example of radical cultural collaboration as a model for things outside of music.
Percussionist Joseph Gramley, who has been with the Silkroad Ensemble since the beginning, describes the mission as one of engaging each others' differences. He said the groups seeks "to embrace each other - to make music that crosses borders and begins conversations." And these conversations can lead to what Gramley calls a "pathway of trust."
Silkroad Ensemble has since expanded to include a collection of performers from across the world - allowing for unexpected pairings of players to learn from each other where their sounds can fit in the musical world.
Bassist Shawn Conley says that this has even allowed him to challenge his own technique. He described rehearsing Tarang by tabla player and fellow Silkroad member Sandeep Das. Conley said that while his own jazz background leaves him fairly comfortable with complex rhythm, he admitted that it took him a while to settle in.
"There's all this rhythmic interplay between the group that for me and others takes a long time for us to get comfortable with."
But that is the theme of the piece itself. Tarang, which means "currents," puts a western string trio in conversation with four nonwestern percussion instruments. Each tries to speak the language of the others - a musical portrayal of silk road merchants, with their different languages, still trying to communicate with each other.
Both Das and Conley are used to improvising. But many of the tala, or rhythmic cycles that form the structure for Indian classical music, are much longer than those of western music. Plus, they aren't made out of patterns of strong and weak pulses to which western musicians are accustomed. So, for Conley, it's been an especially fun challenge.
The ensemble works off of a variety of notation styles. Some of the music is fully written out, some is improvised, and some is realized. Avant garde composer John Zorn's Book of Angels is a set of melodies written in lead sheet form - giving the performers the freedom to create their own soundscape. Each melody the group interprets from Book of Angels is taken individually.
Given the unique set of players, this flexibility allows them to reimagine pieces of music that may even be considered standard pieces of western repertoire. For example, the group's interpretation of Henry Purcell's O Solitude, which captures the essence of the original, while also having the intimacy of treating Purcell as a songwriter. Conley describes the piece, which features soprano Nora Fischer, as "trying to blend those two works, and have it feel like a fireside folk song with hopefully the original intent still intact."
Some of the performance is not notated at all. The ensemble interprets a piece of 21st century marimba repertoire as a percussion ensemble piece. Ghanaia by Matthias Schmitt is a piece by a German composer, for a Ghanaian instrument which has been tuned in a western chromatic scale. Silk Road adds African, Indian, and Middle Eastern ryhthms on top. This act of making the piece a citizen of the world was described by Joseph Gramley as total fun.
"It's the interplay. It's the fun. It's the laughter. It's the communication between the drummers and the marimba player that make the piece really special."
For audiences, the effect of putting these players, these instruments, and these pieces of music together is instantly apparent. And it's particularly the example of collaboration, listening, and curiosity that the group hopes will lead to an overall more hopeful and inclusive society.
Silkroad Ensemble performs at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center on Monday April 1 at 7:30pm.
After five rounds of voting we have our March Music Madness winner.


Fans of the late nineties and early two thousand sci-fi can rejoice, Jim Henson Company's Farscape series has made it to Amazon Prime.
All four seasons of the award-winning series and its finale will be available on Prime in the US, UK, Canada, Australia, and the Nordic countries. The series has also been remastered for HD.
Farscape followed characters escaping an authoritarian militaristic organization in a living spaceship. The cast was highly diverse, featuring characters from different eras and planets, working together. It received high praise for its impressive effects which included practical and digital effects provided by the Jim Henson Creature Shop.
The addition of Farscape to the Prime library happens to coincide with the series' original premiere twenty years ago on March 19, 1999. Fans of the series can also look forward to special anniversary releases of the series' soundtrack on vinyl from Varèse Sarabande. Chronicle Collectibles, Toy Vault, and Trevco will also be releasing Farscape-related products in the upcoming months.


I am an Executive MBA student. We are getting ready for our International Capstone projects and I read about a resource online that I think would be helpful and I'm not aware of how to find out if we it available. The report comes from a Bloomberg company called Kennedy Consulting & Advisory. Each year, they produce Market Reports on various topics. I'm most interested in any global market data about topics like: hiring, selection, training, and development I did some searching and "Kennedy Consulting Research Reports" come up with 3,000+ possibilities. When I sort to 2013 only, I still get hundreds, so I'm thinking there must be a better way. Can you please point me in the direction of if we have such reports available through the library system? I have met Nora before, so I will also send her an email. Thank you!
I checked our business databases (ABI-Inform Global, Business Source Complete, LexisNexis Academic [specifically, their Company Dossier file], Standard & Poor's NetAdvantage, and Passport by Euromonitor), and none include reports compiled by Kennedy Consulting & Advisory. The library does not purchase a direct account with Kennedy, so we have no access to their reports.
You may still find pertinent information by searching topically, especially in ABI-Inform Global and Business Source Complete, which both include articles published in international sources.
Mintel Oxygen is our best market research database, and it includes an extensive international file. However, it focuses on consumer products and services, and I don't think it will prove helpful for Human Resources concerns and consulting.
All these databases are accessible through the All Databases A-Z directory linked from the Criss Library homepage.


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Giving Tuesday Is in One Week!
Montgomery College Theatre Professor KenYatta Rogers Receives Top Teaching Award
Nine Montgomery College Student Athletes Named to the MDJUCO All-Conference Teams
President's Corner Message: Warm Thanksgiving Wishes to the College Community!
Ends Nov. 26! Take the Survey on Bookstores, Cafritz Art Store, and Other Retail Operations
Mark Your Calendars! Collegewide Spring Opening Meeting Celebration is Jan. 20
Rockville Counseling Presents Test Anxiety Workshop Wednesday, Dec. 3
The Latest Edition of the Curriculum Newsletter is Available Online
New Montgomery College E-learning Catalog for Faculty and Staff Professional Development Is Here!
CPOD Classes on Time Management, Decision Making, and More!
Campus Sports News
Rough Start for the Raptors Men's Basketball Team
Raptors Women's Basketball Is 5-3 Going Into the Thanksgiving Break
Tuesday Accessiblity Tip - Accessible Alternatives
Men's Basketball Team Visits the TP/SS Early Learning Center
Breakfast with Santa and a Toy/Food/Book Drive with the TP/SS Office of Student Life - Saturday, Dec. 6
Puppy Therapy for Stressed Out Exam Takers Dec. 3 at the TP/SS Campus!
College Level Examination Program (CLEP) Open House Friday, Dec. 5
How to Use Your Foreign Education Credentials in the US: Info Session, Dec. 2 at MC-Rockville
Traces of Vision, New Art Exhibit at the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus
Takoma Park/Silver Spring Early Learning Center Sponsors Clothing Drive
Employee Extras
Hersheypark Christmas Candylane Discounted Tickets
MC Books & More
Hot 99.5 Jingle Ball Ticket Raid at MC Books & More, Rockville - Dec. 4
KenYatta Rogers, a professor of theatre, has been named the Maryland Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).
Since 2000, Rogers has taught classes at Montgomery College in voice and diction, movement for the performer and fundamentals of acting. As a professional actor, Rogers has garnered three Helen Hayes Award nominations for his stage performances. He has more than 50 film, television, radio and voiceover credits including the National Endowment for the Arts' The Big Read series and PBS' Standard Deviants.
"When Professor Rogers is acting on one of the Washington area stages at night and coming in and teaching the next morning, he is including the students in his process and connecting to them in a very special way," said Professor Susan Hoffman, who chaired the theatre department until this year.
Rogers also advises the Black Box Players, a student theater group on the Rockville Campus, and mentors over 30 students each year. He has also served as a director and coach for more than 15 productions for the College.
"I believe in the fierce urgency of now," Rogers says. "The transaction between me and the person that is in front of me on stage or in the classroom is the most important thing at that time." He says his work with students is "more of a mission than a job."
Performance major Abhishek Shrestha says Rogers "is a very hands-on teacher and he tailors his teaching student to student."
"[Professor Rogers] nurtures that need to create," says Shaquille Stewart, another performance major. "He has helped me not only as a theatre student but as a human being."
In addition to teaching and directing, Rogers co-produces WILLPOWER! at the College. Founded in 2003, over 10,000 people have participated in the annual Shakespeare festival. He also co-produces MCSLAM!, an annual poetry festival featuring student work.
This is the eighth time in 11 years--and the sixth consecutive year--that a Montgomery College professor has been named Maryland Professor of the Year.
Dr. Mary Furgol, a history professor, received the honor in 2003. In 2006, Joan Naake, an English professor, won the award. In 2009, the award went to Chemistry Professor Susan Bontems, followed by Dr. Deborah Stearns, a psychology professor; Music Professor Dawn Avery; Math Professor John Hamman and English Professor Dr. Greg Wahl, respectively.
Rogers was honored at an awards luncheon at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., followed by an evening reception at the Folger Shakespeare Library.
POY_Rogers_Still3.jpg


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WICB Lauds Lloyd on Golden Anniversary
Joseph, Miller Fined, Primus Reprimanded
13th December 2016 Comments Off on Sebastien stars in Windward's revival; Miller takes nine in an innings Views: 1471 News
Sebastien stars in Windward's revival; Miller takes nine in an innings
Jamaica captain, left-arm spinner Nikita Miller, took 9 for 41 in the second innings as his team beat Trinidad & Tobago by 132 runs at Sabina Park in Kingston. Miller had taken nine consecutive wickets, the last of which came in the 55th over, but narrowly missed out on a possible ten-wicket haul when Roshon Primus was trapped in front by Damion Jacobs off the last ball of the 56th.
Miller's effort came after T&T legspinner Imran Khan had run through Jamaica's lower order earlier in the day. Having resumed the day on 148 for 4, with a lead of 256, Jamaica lost overnight batsman Jermaine Blackwood for 81 in the second over. He was trapped in front by offspinner Jon-Russ Jaggesar who also removed the other overnight batsman, Devon Thomas. Imran then took the last four wickets to complete his second five-wicket haul of the season and bowl Jamaica out for 229.
Imran was then promoted to open the batting for T&T, from where he scored 52 and was involved in a brisk stand of 76 with Kyle Hope. But there was to be only one other half-century stand in the innings, a 50-run stand for the fifth wicket between Yannic Cariah and Yannick Ottley; courtesy Miller, T&T had collapses of 4 for 47 and 6 for 32 on either side of that to fold for 205 in their chase of 338.
Speaking to the Gleaner after the match, Miller said he had gone about business as usual. "They got off to a flyer in the chase, but I was not really worried," he said. "I just tried to put the ball in the right areas. I was not expecting nine wickets, but it worked out well for me and I got my best-ever haul."
Miller had taken three wickets in the first innings, while legspinner Jacobs picked up four, ensuring Jamaica had the comfortable advantage of 108 runs after the teams' first innings. For T&T, Jason Mohammed was left stranded on 91 not out in that innings, as the team was bowled out for 206 in response to Jamaica's 314. The hosts' total was built on half-centuries from Andre McCarthy and Brandon King.
Windward Islands captain Liam Sebastien's Man-of-the-Match performance helped his side defeat Leeward Islands and register their first outright win of the season at Windsor Park in Roseau. The allrounder was at the forefront of an impressive comeback by Windward Islands – they recovered from 48 for 7 on the first day, to win the match by 94 runs.
Sebastien had led his team back from that precarious position on the first day with an unbeaten 82, after fast bowlers Gavin Tonge and Alzarri Joseph had torn through the batting following Leeward Islands' decision to bowl. During his knock, Sebastien forged consecutive fifty-plus partnerships with the last three batsmen – 78, 70 and 97. He played second fiddle in the last two, where No. 10, Delorn Johnson (56 off 44), and No. 11, Mervin Matthew (73 off 53), made career-best scores to lift their total to 293.
In response, only two Leeward Islands batsmen made significant contributions – Montcin Hodge with 76, and Jahmar Hamilton with 94 – as Shane Shillingford (5 for 96) combined with Sebastien (4 for 78) to bowl them out for 259 and take the lead. Sebastien wasn't required to bat in the second innings as Windward Islands scored at over four per over on the back of ninty-somethings from Tyrone Theophile (96) and Sunil Ambris (91) to declare on 333 for 8 and set Leeward 368 to win.
Hamilton added to his first-innings 94 with a 134-ball 125 but once again found little in terms of partners. Kieran Powell and Chesney Hughes got out in the forties, and Hodge made another start, but no one else got into double digits as Leeward folded for 273. Sebastien took 4 for 67 to finish with eight in the match.
Taken from ESPN Cricinfo


Ira Weissman is a diamond industry veteran. He has traveled the world buying and selling diamonds and now loves to help diamond consumers see the light about what lies behind the diamond market. He is the founder of The Diamond Pro.
Recessions don't care about degrees—even Wharton degrees—but the last one left this undergraduate alumnus the better for it.


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MUSIC MATTERS: The Specials: 'Number one LP is for Brad'
The Specials. Picture by John Coles.
Paul Heskett.
Editorial Correspondent 16th Feb, 2019
Play Encore
Coventry music history is made and The Specials' new album Encore has hit the top spot, making this the first Specials album to reach the top.
Their first album The Specials went to number four in 1979, and their second More Specials made number five in 1980.
Up to last week, the only local artists ever to reach number one with an LP was The Enemy with We'll Live and Die In These Towns. I love it when we can add to our chart archive, we need a single off the album to hit the top ten now too.
I asked Specials guitarist and vocalist Lynval Golding how he felt about getting to number one.
He replied: "We are so proud to have produced a great album, the world is divided and here is our album that we feel addresses this.
"Some of my last words I ever spoke to our late drummer Brad as we worked on song ideas, was we are going to have a number one. Well here it is, this is for Brad."
Last week, The Specials Cathedral Ruins gigs were announced (completely selling out the initial two concerts, with two other dates added on top). The Coventry Music Museum had the honour of being an official ticket outlet and I want to thank our team for their professionalism and making everything run smoothly. Thanks also to our wonderfully polite customers.
For me it's all about the music. The fact is Lynval Golding, Jerry Dammers, Neville Staple, Horace Panter, Roddy Byers, Terry Hall and John Bradbury have all contributed to The Specials as a brand and they arrive at this point because of all these amazing musicians. People come and go and the shape of the band changes with time (like it does with all bands), but this legacy is a powerful one, so many people visit Coventry because of 2-Tone.
Coventry is known for The Specials and The Selecter – 2-Tone even figures in the city's official history and in the City Of Culture bid too. Think about how much these people have done for the city, how famous 2-Tone is because of Coventry and how famous Coventry is because of 2-Tone, it goes beyond music and into very fabric of our civic identity.
It would be wonderful and fitting in this special year of the celebration of 40 years of 2-Tone if there could be a civic award to these amazing people, every single one of them. While we are on the subject, how about a Specials Street, a Selecter Street and a 2-Tone Street?
This Saturday (February 16), we continue celebrating 40 years of 2-Tone with our Sounding Off guest Paul Heskett, the man who created that eerie flute sound on the Ghost Town single and was once a fully paid up member of the Coventry band The Swinging Cats.
I will be interviewing Paul at the museum from 12noon, and it's your chance to get a question in too. On the evening of 16th, Feb Knights at The 2-Tone Village present the amazing Scottish band The Skaledonia live on stage, doors at 4pm, tickets £7 available from the Village and online at weegottickets.
Pete Chambers BEM
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MUSIC MATTERS: The Sp...


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Q: Remove whitespace from string in brightscript I cannot find a method to remove whitespace characters e.g. spaces from a string in  Brightscript language.  Basically is there a way of taking all of the spaces out of  a string regardless of where in the string the space occurs.

A: Just in case anyone else has had this problem it's fairly easy. I had found an answer here earlier suggesting the use of trim() however there's a pretty easy function that will do the job under Roku / Brightscripts ifString ops called replace. Just use your variable name dot replace e.g.
newString = originalString.Replace(" ", "")

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Join us Saturday, October 27th, @ 4 pm in Downtown Baton Rouge!
The Greater Baton Rouge Food Bank leads this "parade with a purpose" and actively takes non-perishable food donations straight from the crowd. Parading krewes, dancers and bands entertain the crowd with incredible costumes and candy throws. Proceeds from the parade help further initiatives of creating a safe and happy Halloween for the children in our community.
For more information on the BR Halloween Parade, click here.
Contact mark@brfoodbank.org if you're interested in marching with us!


1. To leave or depart. I only went away for a few minutes—how did I miss that key detail in the episode?
2. To leave in order to retrieve something. Did Dad go away for the take-out yet? I want to order something else.
3. To travel or take a trip. We should go away this summer, maybe to Aruba.
4. To stop affecting someone. It took weeks, but my nasty cough has finally gone away.
5. To leave someone alone; to stop bothering someone. In this usage, the phrase is often used as an imperative. Go away, Timmy, you're annoying us! I told my little brother to go away, but he keeps coming back and bugging us!
1. Traveling to a different place, usually on a vacation. I'm going away next week, so I'll be out of the office.
2. adverb By a large margin. Used to describe winning by a large amount in sports or other competitions. I missed the game last night, but I hear we put up a lot of points and won going away!
But Bates, addressing an audience of Wednesday fans in the city, said: "I'm not going away because I think the true depths of the problems at Wednesday haven't been revealed yet - and maybe that's why they won't let me in to see the books.
Although he said Congress will likely adjourn without passing any privacy legislation, "believe me, privacy is not going away.
We want to make clear that we haven't gone away and we have no intention of going away.
A recent poll shows 33% of Britons would consider escaping traditional turkey by going away for the festive period.
Until there is a cure," he adds, "this is not going away.
The kids I look after were really looking forward to going away on Thursday and we were counting on that money.
The number also, she says, "represents the 108 attachments of human beings and the going away from those attachments.
The luxury tax is going away -- postpone the new car present.
I'M going away on a week-long course for work but I've never left my five-year-old before.
I wouldn't stop him going away if he was called up again,it's what he trains to do.
Fact: Rather than going away, job turnover is going into overdrive.
I really never expected to see him going away with the military, though.
In terms of the overall project going away and never being built, at this juncture that is the applicant's call.


Midnight Faces was born of the joint efforts of Philip Stancil and Matthew Warn—who has previously collaborated with the likes of Josh Tillman and Jonny Pierce. Today, we're pleased to premiere a cut from their forthcoming album Fornication (due out June 18 via Broken Factory). This is a big-hearted, big-chorused piece of 1980s-influenced rock. So crank it up.


Especially in Singapore, most of those who have their own homes are married couples and who are first-time owners. So, if you're still a property rookie even after binge-watching Million Dollar Listing, please never emulate how they strike a deal as the context are virtually different. What you should keep an eye out for, for instance, is when there is no furniture in the house or especially when the staging looks too good, it might be that the owners are hiding some damage or fault in the house!
There are reasons why staging experts exist and why their services cost a bomb. Realtors often employ staging experts during open houses and home-viewing sessions. There are certain types of furniture that makes a particular room in the house seem much bigger such as carpets and mirrors. Especially for condominium units, staging experts will often use light and soft colours to create the illusion of a bigger space. So, always keep note of that. If there's a really distracting view in the house, the stagers might even block it with a tall bookshelf or even an antique clock tower.
It's a known fact that Singapore doesn't exactly have jaw-dropping views, but it doesn't mean there are no natural views. The greens and blues are never a sight that fails to make us look at them in awe. Especially if you're living in a penthouse or a unit that's above level 5, you can enjoy a magnificent view. For instance, Parc Esta Condo Singapore has a beautiful view of the Katong area which has beautiful little shophouses. You could also enjoy a view of Singapore's city skyline and a view of the Marina Bay Sands!
If you love accessibility and the heartlands, then the Belgravia Green would be perfect for you as Ang Mo Kio is conveniently located in central Singapore, and getting to any part of the country is relatively easy.
Many first-timers start worrying when there isn't any furniture in the house, and so it gets more difficult to picture where things should go and distinguish which room is which. Don't fret, though! It gives you a blank canvas for you to paint your new picture with your family in your new home! Remember to look for the partition pillars and mini steps as some apartment units have a separate lounge area, living room and dining area. Some homeowners even change their balcony to be part of a bigger living room or knock down a storeroom to have a half bedroom. If they aren't any partition pillars, then it'll be best to let your realtor guide the way while referencing to the floor plan throughout.
This is an extremely important matter to take note of. Storage space is more important that you think! Once you're too swayed by the view of your master bedroom, and forget all about your huge wardrobe – you'll leave yourself regretting it every day!
Make sure to remember these few things during your home-viewing sessions so that you could make an intelligent offer for what it's worth or to make sure you won't regret it. Most houses in Singapore has an incredible foundation so looking out for plumbing and fungi issues aren't primary. Other than that – the best of luck to the first-timers!


It was Autumn on Wheaton College's campus (an Evangelical Christian college in Illinois), the trees were gorgeous quilts of soft browns and reds. The air was refreshingly cool and I was going out on one of my prayerful evening walks, as was my custom in those days.
A few months earlier I had returned from an eye-opening one-year overland hitch-hiking trip to India. Since then I had been confessing to friends that my Christianity had transformed and that I could not longer comfortably call myself a "normal" Christian–or at least that is the best expression I could come up with at that time.
I had a difficult time telling my friends why my Christianity was no longer "normal" except that I did not believe that all non-Christians were going to hell. I still felt I was a Christian but deep inside, this really felt like only the beginning of my deconversion. Would it be only a deconversion from the Evangelical/charismatic flavor of Christianity that I had embraced, or would it go further — I wasn't certain.
So how did I make that first step in my deconversion? It was not because I had deeply studied the Bible to find passages to support Universalism. But instead, after one year of wonderful encounters with people of many different faiths, and also those who were religion-free, I could no longer belief/feel that they were all be going to hell simply because they didn't believe what I believed.
My hitchhike from Europe to Asia was made without money and had been fraught with dangers. But I was kept safe by the kindness of people I had met on the journey — people of many faiths. I was privilege to the generosity from many of them. I saw the hearts of many people, for without common languages, the heart is often all I could see. Also, at the end of that journey, I worked with Christian missionary groups both in Pakistan and India and I had a chance to compare the kindness of Christians and the kindness of these "pagans".
I saw that a good heart could be shared by Christians, other faiths and the religion-free folks alike. I started seeing that beliefs were more like clothing we wear than the substance of our souls. Our beliefs are for appearance and to keep us warm (among fellow believers), but beneath, our real selves remain unchanged by the clothing we call beliefs.
These universalist doubts alienated my Wheaton Christian friends from me. By that time in my life, all my friends were Christian and now I could tell they were all very uncomfortable in our conversations and so they avoided me and that isolation help nurture my doubts.
But then a huge wave of embarrassment of such a silly thought came over me as I thought of all the sincere non-believers who I had met in the last two years who don't tag on the Jesus coupon to get their prayers heard. I thought of their heart-filled prayers and of their love of their gods and ideals — Hindu, Muslims and Buddhist. I remembered their commitment to following sacrificial love and their giving without expecting in return. I had been the recipient of such kindness on my Asian sojourn. And yet, my simple Christian belief was that without finishing their prayers correctly (without using my god), these fine people had prayers that were meaningless before God. God could not even hear their prayers because they did not tag on the Jesus coupon.
But in spite of all the warnings that my Jesus-brain was now giving me, it was too late. I could feel the momentum of doubt cracking the wall of hypnotism I had voluntarily constructed during the last six years of my Christian life.
Then I shivered as realizing that I was actually entertaining de-converting. And I knew that if I de-converted I would loose my girlfriend, all my friends and my dreams of my future Christian life. After all, I graduated with a Psychology degree from Wheaton College so I could do Christian Psychology and help believers in their doubts and their suffering. What was I doing? Here I was, just out of college for 1 year and still living in the city of Wheaton safely surrounded by my Christian community and if I continued on this path, I would loose it all.
Ironically, it seemed that I had a deeper choice than mere belief, I was now about to make a decision between following the truth wherever it may take me or to staying committed to my beliefs because of what they offered me. And with that insight, when I saw how simple this choice was, I chose truth.
And indeed, eventually, I did lose all my Wheaton friends, my girlfriend, my imagined career and a whole community. All that knowledge of the Bible would mean nothing in my new world. It felt like I had to start over. What I did not foresee, was that I would gain many more good-hearted friends from various belief systems — religious and otherwise– without needing to sacrifice truth. And indeed, operating from our human commonality with honesty gave me a supportive community more quickly than I imagined. A life without my invisible friend Jesus and my true source of knowledge, the Bible, was not as empty as I had imagined.
See my view of self here to see how beliefs are more complicated than we imagine.
It was not until decades later that I learned how some flavors (a minority) of Christianity believed in universalism.
deconverting? no such thing my friend. Can you slowly make yourself believe your heart is not there…?
You are obviously a searcher and I was myself. Yes, you don't have to be "christian" to do good… God is already hot-wired into us – it's called a soul – whether you read bible or not. humans have it, animals don't.
But more than knowing that you have God in you (created in his image remember?) – the Christian search is the search for the true NATURE of God.
God gave you at least 5 ways to know him.
yes, thinking is part of the way to be convinced… you are on the right path, my friend but don't reject the other tools outright.
2.) church and saints/holy men (same) – peers.
What happen to the poor holy men?
Aren't they controlled by the holy spirit?
I am so glad that dromoman has everything nailed down tight and figured out. Of course, bold, confident assertions are not facts.
Sabio, I am enjoying your site and comments.
Well thank you Larry, thanks for dropping in. Do drop in again !
Sabio, I know in my faith journey of some 40 years my image of God has changed. I stretched much of christian theology until it broke. I would not call my self a christian any more, just a radical follower of Jesus as found in the gospels. I think there is a big difference. Sadly I think much of christianity is a god created in its own image.
Sabio, I applaud your commitment to an honest assessment of the laudable virtues of all who search for truth. Walking in the light that is available to each of us seems to be all that can be reasonably expected of anybody. The notion of the Pagan as an intrinsically broken vessel does not square with the sacrifices and truly noble acts that fill both myth and history proper. Many Christians are dishonest with the reasonable promptings of their own hearts, promptings to accept the "non-believer" as a good person. " In my Father's house there are many rooms, see I have prepared a place for you." Open arms are mocked by closed minds.
Well said. Your pluralist approach is what puts you in "My favorite type of Christian" list.
I've always thought of beliefs as clothing, too; for the same reasons you mention.
It is good to know some Christians can understand.
Very similar to my story. Thank you for telling it. It was very inspirational.
Thanks for dropping in. I haven't met many others who left because of this insight.
Yeah, I'm still formulating my story and maybe I'll tell it soon and/or start up a blog. Not sure yet. Short version is that I was a Christian for basically all of my 39 years, but the last two years or so I slowly drifted away from it while simultaneously trying to hold on to some more palatable form. The first step was when our family left church (a story in itself). After that I began a slow journey through less "evangelical" forms of Christianity (reading Tillich, Pete Rollins, Borg, and a few others), trying hard to find a version that seemed to fit what I was feeling. In the end the only reason I could find to still hold on to my faith would be to either do it for the sake of tradition or ritual, neither of which drew me to it in the first place. So I just dropped it.
That was only about two weeks ago.
I have decided, as you said, to follow truth wherever it may take me. In describing my de-conversion to a friend about a week ago, I made an analogy similar to your clothing one, except I used masks instead. My attempts to hold onto some alternate form of Christianity was simply me continually swapping out masks, trying to find one that fit. In the end I couldn't find any and just decided to remove my masks altogether.
I really enjoy your site and your temperament; your beliefs seem to match mine in most areas. You also seem to be an incredible moderator when discussions start to get out of hand. I look forward to perusing the rest of the site and keeping up with your latest posts.
Wow, thanx for sharing the new story. I remember those days like they were yesterday — it is a huge transition. If you get a chance, start a blog. I suggest you do it under an alias to protect family and friends and yet be able to write honestly.
Write it down now, because your brain will re-write it slowly over the years and you will never be able to clearly capture today's thoughts again.
Thanks for the compliments on the site. I try to moderate well — sometimes I fail miserably. But I appreciate the patience of my readers.
The pseudonym is a great idea. It will allow me to be free with my thoughts. I'm thinking that, to start with, I will make the blog about my deconversion experience, chronicling how I feel now and how I felt leading up. I don't need to act like some sort of expert on atheism because, let's face it, I'm not. Hopefully I can demythologize some of the negative ideas of what atheism is and is not (I realize that is an old battle but I would at least like to add my pea shooter to the fray). One of the things that kept me hanging on to my Christianity for so long was not realizing that unbelief comes in all shapes and sizes; I viewed atheism as many view Christianity: I didn't want to be one of "those" people so I avoided it out of fear and ignorance. In the end, embracing the truth was more important than any potential backlash so I made the leap of faith (away from faith?) and found it was but a step off the curb.
Fun. I look forward to your blog. I'll discuss details with you by personal e-mail if you are interested. Meanwhile, I have a few posts on Blogging which may help.
Sabio.. I must go to bed. I've been studying your blog but still have much more to read. I adore your honesty and ability to share yourself so openly. I can't wait to read more.
I could feel the momentum of doubt cracking the wall of hypnotism I had voluntarily constructed during the last 6 years of my Christian life.
That is good. The day I realized that I wanted to question this was the beginning of the end.
My brother (Deconverted Man on YouTube) deconverted several years ago. I've been supporting his skepticism, and he supports my faith – he calls me a "reasonable theist," since I accept biological evolution and the age of the earth (4.5 billion years) as being true.
As far as my Christianity goes, while I still go to church (mostly for the praise segment & fellowship), I do NOT hold to most of what the church says, because it's against science.
I feel more like the IDEA of Jesus is what's important, rather than if Jesus is an actual person or not. Is there truth in the Jesus myth? There may be – but I feel like the ideals are more important.
I recognize that my faith is not supported by facts, and I'm ok with that. If there is a truth out there, I'm looking for it… perhaps, some day, we will find empirical evidence and / or a repeatable test for God. Until then, my brother will remain skeptical. I will continue to believe, until (and unless) I find a reason (personally) not to.
Thanks for making this page! It's great!
I understand the desire of so many liberal Christians to stay in the fold. It gives them a sense of belonging, meaning, sanctity and more — even if the strip down their religion to be unrecognizable to orthodoxy. You all could construct your moral philosophy and meaning around any figure, but you choose the one you were raised with, the one with is a flag to your community. It is all so convenient. I understand that.


THE pictures are in charge in Leos Carax's ''Bad Blood,'' which plays at the New York Film Festival at 6:15 P.M. tonight and Friday. Most of the scenes seem to have been improvised in the interests of a striking shot, and the characters are in thrall to the camera. In this, his second feature, Mr. Carax lives up to his billing as ''the natural heir of Jean-Luc Godard,'' showing a taste for underground types and milieus, an inventive eye and a tolerance for tedium.
An ailment with a moral. But Mr. Carax, who also wrote the murky script, doesn't show much concern for its consequences. One minor character appears to have been infected, but we are left to guess how come or so what. As for that big heist, when it finally comes off, the movie goes surrealistic, losing whatever crime-story tension has been built up. Instead of showing how Alex does the job, Mr. Carax lays on visual effects, such as an overhead shot of a squad of cops assuming a geometrical pattern for the camera's benefit.
It's the images, as cineastes like to call them, that drive Mr. Carax. Some are stunners, in particular a dizzying rescue by parachute. It's so exciting and has so little to do with the plot that you can't help suspecting the characters were sent up in the plane solely so the photographer, Jean-Yves Escoffier, could do his stuff. Mr. Carax shows a special liking for overhead shots, shots of people racing or dancing past gritty walls, mirror shots and closeups of faces with fuzzy figures visible in the background. Since many of the prolonged closeups are of the beautiful Juliette Binoche (who plays Anna, Marc's languorous mistress and the love of Alex's life), they are not unpleasing. But who is that pretty woman in white who keeps wandering silently through and why is she weeping?
Mr. Carax makes much of speed (''I long for the kiss of speed,'' says Alex) and dramatic plays of light. But while the screen flashes and flickers, little else is happening. Not all his reflecting tricks can make the half-hour conversation between Anna and Alex seem less than three hours long, since neither they nor anybody else in the movie is coherent.
There are some funny moments: Alex does a vaudeville routine that ends with vegetables pouring onto his head; he and Anna kid around with shaving-cream beards; Halley's Comet is blamed for both a hot spell and a snowstorm; Hans gets all dolled up to go on the heist; a police inspector pauses in midaction to lament that his children never call him. You may wonder at such times whether ''Bad Blood'' is meant as parody of the whole film noir line.
The American woman (Carroll Brooks) is strictly camp, and the amount of cigarette puffing is a smoking joke. However, the determinedly doleful tone defies laughter. When Alex turns on the radio and says, ''Let's listen and let our feelings flow as they will'' or ''I feast my eyes to feast my dreams'' or ''Mutual love is a short circuit,'' we seem to be meant to take him seriously.
The main set, the apartment where the bare-chested criminals do their plotting, is on a street steeped in shadows, except for a couple of big abstract paintings at the far end. If it's symbols you're after, that's a pretty good one for this movie, touches of color in the gloom. Image First BAD BLOOD, directed and written by Leos Carax; in French with English subtitles; photography by Jean-Yves Escoffier; edited by Nelly Quettier and Helene Muller; a Films Plain Chang-Soprofilms-FR3 Films Production. At Alice Tully Hall, as part of the 25th New York Film Festival.
Running time: 105 minutes. This film has no rating.
Alex... Denis Lavant; Anna... Juliette Binoche; Marc... Michel Piccoli; Hans... Hans Meyer; Lise... Julie Delpy; The American Woman... Carroll Brooks; Boris... Hugo Pratt; Charlie... Serge Reggiani.


A new study shows it's possible for 35 percent of the western U.S. power grid's electricity to come from renewable sources.
A new study shows it would be possible for the Western power grid to draw 35 percent of its electricity from wind and solar energy sources by 2017. The Western Wind and Solar Integration Study, released by the U.S. Department of Energy's National Renewable Energy Laboratory on May 20, examines the benefits and challenges of integrating wind power, solar photovoltaic systems, and concentrating solar power onto the grid. The study concludes that while additional infrastructure isn't needed, key operational changes are required to meet this target. The report focused on the power system operated by the WestConnect group of utilities in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Wyoming.
The study found that coordinated operations among utilities across a large geographic area decrease the effect of the variability of wind and solar energy sources. Though wind and solar output vary over time, the study shows that it is operationally possible to accommodate 30 percent wind and 5 percent solar energy penetration to the grid. To accomplish such an increase, utilities will have to schedule their generation deliveries, or sales, on a more frequent basis. Currently, generators provide a schedule for a specific amount of power they will provide in the next hour, a process called "hour ahead" scheduling. More frequent scheduling would allow generators to adjust that amount of power based on changes in system conditions, such as increases or decreases in wind or solar generation.
The study also finds that if utilities were to generate as much as 27 percent of their electricity from wind and solar energy across the Western Interconnection grid, it would lower carbon emissions by 25 to 45 percent, while decreasing fuel and emissions costs by some 40 percent, depending on the future price of natural gas. Other key findings from the study include: existing transmission capacity can be more fully utilized to reduce the amount of new transmission that needs to be built; to facilitate the integration of wind and solar energy, coordinating the operations of utilities can provide substantial savings by reducing the need for additional backup generation, such as natural gas-burning plants; and the use of state-of-the-art wind and solar forecasts in utility operations is essential for cost-effectively integrating these renewable energy sources. The study complements the previously released Eastern Wind Integration and Transmission Study, which examines the feasibility of integrating up to 30 percent wind in the Eastern states.


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So join us on our journey to net zero and help us power change.
Salary: £64,100 - £96,100 + car allowance + performance-related bonus + a range of other benefits to support your family, finances and wellbeing.
Working Pattern: Permanent | Full Time | Flexible First options available
The purpose of this role is to partner from a Learning and Talent perspective the Networks and Distributed Energy businesses; the key elements of the role relates to having a substantial understanding of the business area(s) and applying a wide ranging knowledge of L&T solutions to meet strategic goals. In order to do so, the role holder will be an L&T subject expert gained through substantial experience.
Your key responsibilities will include:-
- Acting as the single point of contact with the business. The role works alongside the HR Business Partner and leadership team for the business area, identifying key learning needs, defining learning paths, creating a training plan based on business priorities and identifying market relevant solutions.
- Working with the senior leadership teams in order to understand the real learning needs of the business area and working with a wide range of stakeholders including the wider L&T team to collaborate on the design and delivery of the required solutions.
- L&T budget management for their business area, benefit realisation and facilitating team effectiveness sessions in cooperation with the HRBP.
- Striving to identify improvements in, or new learning opportunities that will benefit the bottom line of the business in terms of productivity, efficiency, growth, value or all of these.
- People management for the non-technical training team (c.10 people). Additionally you'll have the support of a Project Manager in order to deliver the business requirements as agreed with the relevant business areas.
To be considered for this role, we would love you to have:-
- Substantial experience of working at a senior level defining, designing and delivering learning solutions that are fit for purpose and support the business you are working with to deliver their strategy.
- Excellent communication and engagement skills working with key stakeholders the role also collaborates with the wider L&T team to ensure that the agreed training plan is delivered to cost and quality standards.
- Experience as a practitioner in a wide range of development tools (eg Insights and Hogan accreditations, MBTI) in order to develop and coach senior leaders as required.
- Commercially adept to select viable options in line with needs and budget as they will be accountable for ensuring L&T needs are met in line with budgets.
- Experience in managing and motivating diverse and geographically spread teams.
SSE Human Resources is made up of several operational and specialist teams who strive to help the business to design, develop and deliver their people strategies. We partner with the business to provide expert advice on all people matters, enabling them to get the best out of their teams and equip them to meet the changing demands of our business now, and in the future.
If you would like to discuss any working differently requirements or adjustments you may require throughout the recruitment and selection process, please contact Jenna.Jackson@sse.com / 01738 341 390.
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Jason Calacanis publishes full details on the Apple tablet
By Adam Hartley 2010-01-27T09:43:00.26Z Apple
Web entrepreneur dishes the goods
Jason Calacanis reveals all on the new tablet computer
Web entrepreneur and CEO of Mahalo, Jason Calacanis, has released some interesting details about Apple's tablet computer via Twitter, possibly scuppering some of Steve Jobs' surprises for the official launch in San Francisco at 6pm GMT this evening.
Calacanis said on his Twitter account, that he has had an Apple tablet for ten days already and that: "For background: apple asked me to do press tomorrow on cnbc, cnn, etc."
Of course, it should be made clear that these are just the opinions of Calacanis, who might just be having a little joke with Apple's legions of fans.
Tablet feature list
In terms of features, Calacanis notes that the tablet has an OLED screen; a solar pad for recharging on the back (the device is mainly battery-powered); is running on an iPhone OS variation; can run multiple apps at the same time; has thumb pads on each side (for mouse gestures) and has fingerprint verification (up to 5 profiles can be registered on one device).
Most interestingly, he adds that the Apple tablet also has a HDTV tuner, a PVR and a chess game built-in; has a back camera and front camera and has a wireless keyboard and monitor connection for external monitors
Justified hype
Calacanis also said the following about the new Apple device:
It's "the most amazing device ever"
It's "really amazing for newspapers"
Video conferencing is "super stable"
Battery life is "great" when it comes to reading ebooks but not so great (2-3 hours) in Wi-Fi mode or when playing games
Tailor-made games are "sick", on Wii level
The customised Farmville app (which Jobs is going to demo tomorrow with the CEO of the company behind it) is "insane"
The tablet will be offered by Verizon and ATT
It will cost $599, $699 or $799, depending on the screen size and internal memory
Calacanis could not reveal the name or show any pictures of the new Apple device. You can follow Jason on Twitter to keep up with whatever else he knows at twitter.com/Jason
Via CrunchGear
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If you use pencils, then I'm pretty sure you use erasers as well. It doesn't seem quite right to blather on about pencils and not really say much about their important related product. So for a different type of review, here are a few words on my favourite eraser. And you know, looking at the auction websites, I think there are a fair few eraser collectors out there.
The Staedtler Mars Plastic Eraser 526 50 has been part of my writing equipment for a very long time. In my part of the world it's pretty much the "everywhere" eraser, - in every stationery and office supply outlet, and every workplace stationery cupboard. Of course down here it's still often called a rubber.
Colour: White eraser, blue and white sleeve.
Obviously the most important feature of an eraser is its erasing power. From years of use I can say that the Mars Plastic is up to the jobs I have asked of it. It quickly erases even heavy dark pencil lead. It is less effective with coloured pencil, but that seems to be the way with most erasers. Smearing can be a problem with some erasers but doesn't seem to be a major issue with Mars Plastic. Certainly soft lead grades like 4B and 6B do produce some initial smearing but a few extra swipes removes the smears. Equally importantly it seems very gentle on the paper - you can really be quite vigorous and repetitive in your erasing of a particular spot and the paper remains in good condition.
It is a reasonably large eraser which has some good and bad points. On the good side, you can get a firm grip on it which makes things easy if you have a lot of erasing to do, and you can erase an awful lot before you will need to buy a new one. So there's slightly less need to panic during your exam when you suddenly realise you have to rub out half your wonderful design. On the bad side, whilst it starts out with nice square edges and a square end, you can't really keep a sharp edge or fine point on this eraser so it is a bit of a blunt instrument. You definitely need an erasing shield if you have some fine erasing to do. Of course chopping the rounded end off the eraser is an option, and I have resorted to this every now and then.
The tight fitting sleeve is a nice idea, but doesn't quite succeed in the real world - it tends to end up looking rather tatty. But then again, I'm not sure I have a better idea to keep the eraser compound clean. Speaking of the compound, as you erase away, the waste does twist itself up into long strands which are easily removed, just like Staedtler claim. They also claim it is good for removing scuff marks from vinyl floors, marks from light switches and wallpaper, cleaning nail files and a whole lot of other things. I can vouch for the first few – but no idea about the nail file! The compound is relatively odourless – I recall "smelly" erasers being very popular when I was a little fellow at primary school.
I can't claim to be an eraser expert, or to have done comparative tests on dozens of different brands, but I think the Mars plastic is a good economical general purpose eraser.
Footnote: Drafts of this review were prepared with a Staedtler (Australia) Pacific 830 grade HB wooden pencil, assisted by Dux 1128-NB sharpener, and of course Staedtler Mars Plastic 526 50 eraser.
What is it? A 'mechanical pencil cartridge' that replaces Parker type pen refills and converts the writing instrument from a ballpoint pen to a mechanical pencil.
Schmidt is a German company that makes componentry for writing instruments. Their ballpoint refills are sold by a lot of retailers as an economical alternative to the genuine name-brand item.
My converters arrived just as pictured, without any instructions. You can also see they are rather different in shape and length to an ordinary Parker ballpoint refill, so exactly how would they fit? They were advertised as allowing you to convert most Parker type pens to pencils. I easily figured out they are a push-top ratchet mechanism and the top pulls off to allow access to the lead chamber.
So, first up I grabbed a Parker pen and quickly realised it wasn't going to work. The spring that fits on the front of the pen refill has to be removed for the converter to fit. My particular Parker's spring appeared to be permanently affixed inside the pen barrel and I just couldn't remove it. So then I tried another pen, a non-Parker but one that I could get the spring out of the barrel. But again it was all to no avail. It was actually a twist action pen and I just couldn't get it to operate the converter mechanism.
Well that was two strikes, so I needed to hit a homer before I was three and out. I had another ballpoint that took Parker refills, and I could get the spring out. It all seemed to fit but I just couldn't get it to work. I then realised that the converter was actually just a fraction too long, and was permanently 'pushed in' when the pen was assembled.
So by slowly chopping small amounts off the top stem of the converter I found a length that made it work, and Voila!
It all woks fine as a standard push top ratchet mechanical pencil, but the lead sleeve is not retractable. So overall, not a bad idea, but a little difficult to get to work in the real world. If you had a pen that you really liked and wanted it to be a pencil, then there's a chance this converter might just work for you.
Down here in my part of the world, Autopoint mechanical pencils are something of a rarity, and I don't know an awful lot about them. A bit of web-surfing over the last few years gives me the impression that they were a major manufacturer in the USA during the middle part of last century, but like many such companies they later fell on hard times. They are sort of still going in one form or another, but seemingly as a mere shadow of their former glory. They have a basic website that offers sales to the public, but they never process my sales orders or answer enquiries. A few online retailers offer some of their products but they are often out of stock, so I don't really know what's going on.
Letter from Autopoint, USA to Ronaldson-Tippett, Australia.
Although we have not been able to sell our products in Australia for some years, we do appreciate an occasional expression of interest such as yours to let us know there is still a potential demand for our products.
A copy of our Catalog No. 48A which illustrates our complete 1948 line of business gift items, including our pencils and 'phone index, is going forward to you under separate cover and we are also sending, as a "Sample of No Commercial Value" one of our No. 6 pencils.
The price of such a pencil, with one line of "imprinting" is US$0.30. The second line, and each additional line, is $0.02½ extra. The printed ferrule below the eraser is also extra and priced as shown on page 15 of our catalog. Ordinarily this ferrule is of the same material as the clip and tip.
Unfortunately, we are not able to take payment in funds other than United States dollars. We have, however, been able to make some shipments to Jamaica, Trinidad, and other Empire points where our products are not normally prohibited if payment is made by some U.S. firm and no dollar exchange is involved in the shipment. This, of course, is a matter that is usually handled between the overseas consignee and their principals in this country and we are not involved in the financial end of the transaction.
Should you be able to enter a quantity of our pencils or other products into Australia, we will be glad to hear from you and give any order our best attention. In the event this is not possible at this time, we hope you will retain our Catalog for your future reference.
So where does this letter lead me….
Well firstly Ronaldson-Tippett, of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia were manufacturers of tractors, engines, power plant, and other heavy equipment for the agricultural and mining industry. I assume they wanted Autopoint pencils and business items as possible promotional giveaways, rather than as part of the launch of an office supplies company.
Secondly there is the reference to "the (British) Empire". Well that's not really the right terminology. A case of old habits die hard, as the British Empire had ceased decades before. In 1948 the correct reference should have been 'British Commonwealth', but Empire was still used a bit. Back in 1948 I don't think a New Zealander would mind being incorrectly referred to as part of "the Empire" but I'm not entirely sure about how an Australian would have felt, as they were generally far more distant from the 'mother country' than NZ was. Much of even the relatively recent history and personal identity of New Zealand, Australia, and some other Commonwealth countries is so intermingled with that of the United Kingdom its often hard to define when they became separate, perhaps particularly so for New Zealand as arguably the last major colony to 'emotionally' separate itself from the UK. Hopefully the reference to 'Empire' by a foreigner would have been seen in a flattering light and appeased Australian umbrage at the concept they weren't independent people but were somehow subjugated by or part of an empire.
Thirdly in the paragraph on dealings with "the Empire" there is the reference to prohibited items and schemes to get around export/import problems. At the end of World War Two, the economy of Great Britain was in a terrible state. Years of wartime production priorities and enemy bombing had left many sectors of the economy badly damaged, and it took decades to recover. Some might say Britain never fully recovered. Food rationing didn't end until 1954, some 9 years after the war ended. On the other hand, much like the USA, Australia and New Zealand emerged from the war with their economic base in good shape. In fact by the early 1950's New Zealand's per capita GDP was the second highest in the world…ahh, the good old days, before our long slide into mediocrity. The Australian economy was also doing very well back then too.
However all this prosperity masked many structural inefficiencies in the economy. Australia and New Zealand had very restricted protected economies, as alluded to in Autopoints letter. In the mid-1980's New Zealand went through massive economic reform, transforming from a very restricted economy into a very open one. Back in the 80's I recall an elderly colleague telling us youngsters how easy we had things these days. I'm talking from a New Zealand perspective here, but I believe things were equally restricted and crazy in Australia. Firstly there were quota restrictions on many items, so there might well have been a limit on the value of mechanical pencils able to be imported into New Zealand (or Australia), and only the quota holder was allowed to do the importation, although they could effectively on-sell the quota to another party. There were tender rounds where you bid to buy the quota the government was offering to sell. So for example the government might have set an annual import quota of "pens and other writing instruments excluding wooden pencils" at say $100,000 worth of imports. Companies then bid for the quota (in $10,000 parcels), allowing them to import writing instruments to the value of the quota they owned. So the winner might pay the government $500 to get quota allowing them to import $10,000 worth of writing instruments. It was effectively an auction so others may have paid more or less for the quota they won.
Quota was one thing, but foreign currency restrictions were another. Trading within the Pound currency block was somewhat easier than with real foreigners like the Autopoint Company of Chicago that used funny-money like the US Dollar. Back in the 80's I was vaguely aware that not all that long before there were still schemes like Autopoint mentioned to get around foreign currency restrictions. Schemes like getting your associated company in another country to buy something and ship it to you, and you paid by shipping them something in return, or they deducted the amount from what they owed you, so you never actually sent any money out of the country. Shades of a barter economy. My colleague explained to us youngsters how back in the 60's if our company wanted to buy a new imported industrial sewing machine for our clothing factory it was terribly difficult to get one, with things like quota restrictions, import licences, duties, taxes, and currency control all making life difficult. Things were apparently a little easier if it was a replacement for a worn out machine. In those cases a Customs Officer would come out with the new machine and witness the physical destruction (by gas-axe, hammer, etc) of the old machine and thereby somehow approve something that made it all easier. What a drama! I think my colleague was right, so much easier these days without any import quota or currency restrictions.
Whoa, all this rambling and I haven't even opened up the Autopoint catalogue yet! Have to save that for a future post, with less rambling and more true pencil content.
So here I am again, way outside my natural comfort zone, writing with a pencil that has a rubber grip and a button ratchet mechanism. That's two strikes against it before I even start. On the plus side though, it is a Pentel.
Lets start out with the overall look of this mechanical pencil. Plastic body, rubber grip, metal pocket clip. To be honest, in black, I think its pretty uninspiring. I haven't got it in any other colour but perhaps a bright colour might give it a bit of ommph. The colour and shape together just do nothing for me. By Pentels high standards, I don't think the standard of plastic moulding is very good on this pencil – the part lines and injection points are reasonably obvious.
The 3mm metal lead sleeve is suitable for draughting, but it's not retractable so its not pocket safe. My pencil is 0.5mm lead but other sizes are available. There is an eraser under the plastic top cap - its Pentels standard mid-size rubber eraser so its a reasonable eraser. You pull the eraser out to refill the lead chamber. My pencil came with 5 sticks of lead which is a little bonus compared to the 1 stick you seem to get with most pencils. The pocket clip is a good springy steel clip so its quite functional.
The grip section on the Quicker-Clicker is a rubber compound. It's in the medium to hard range but does have a little bit of 'give' under finger pressure, and a little bit of a 'grippy' feel so I guess it does improve the grip properties a little bit. I don't know, maybe it's just me, but for some reason I just couldn't get a comfortable grip on this pencil. Something about the grip diameter, it's shape, the position of the clicker button, etc. I just couldn't get it right. The first Pentel I haven't liked? There, I've said it, and got it out of my system. My inner torment and dilemma has been reduced.
The clicker button is positioned in the rubber grip itself. This means it often gets in the way when you first pick up the pencil, and you have to rotate it around until the clicker is in the 'right' place. At least this clicker button forms part of the general contour of the grip section and doesn't stick out like some mutant growth, but I would definitely prefer the clicker to be higher up on the body, like on the Techniclick, where you can operate it with the joint of your thumb rather than your thumb or fingertip like here. The clicker is quite stiff so it's not accidentally activated when you pick up the pencil. I suppose some people in a hurry might write with the clicker positioned beneath their finger so they are always ready to advance to lead. But not me. One advantage of the side clicker though is that the lead advance isn't activated by putting the top cap on or off when you use the eraser.
Pentel don't put much marking on this particular mechanical pencil. There is "0.5, Pentel, Japan" stamped into the metal pocket clip in big letters and "PD345" in small letters. There is no reference to the name "Quicker-Clicker" on the pencil itself.
Best Points – Ummmmm, moving right along.
Not So Good Points – The clicker button in the rubber grip, it's just an uncomfortable combination.
Dimensions – Length 148mm, diameter 11mm at widest part of grip. Balance point about 80mm up from the tip.
A few months ago Pentel Ain won the inaugural Lead Cup so it's time to do an official review of Pentel leads.
Pentel offer a great variety of graphite leads of many different thickness', hardness grades, quality levels, packaging, etc. For example in ordinary mechanical pencil refill leads they offer 0.3, 0.5, 0.7, 0.9 and 1.3mm thickness leads. In 1.3mm they offer hardness 2B, B, HB and H, but in 0.5mm leads the range of hardness offered expands to 4B through to 6H, including an F grade. They label their apparent quality levels as 'Hi-Polymer', 'Super Hi-Polymer / Ain', and 'Premium Hi-Polymer'. Despite the name 'Premium Hi-Polymer' it appears that 'Super Hi-Polymer / Ain' is their top quality level lead.
As far as I can tell, Ain is just a marketing brandname, the Super Hi-Polymer leads are sold in a variety of containers, quantities per container (e.g. 12, 30 or 40 leads per container) and so on, some as 'Super Hi-Polymer' and some as 'Ain'. All in all there's an awful lot of apparent choice.
I wasn't really sure about how to review leads, so I decided to spend a week writing with a selection of different hardness Ain 0.5mm leads. For comparison I also used Pentel Hi-Polymer 0.5mm HB lead. In theory the Ain leads are superior to Hi-Polymer.
Well let's get a few of the technicalities out of the way. Reliving the glory days of The Lead Cup, I put a few sticks of lead to the strength test. It was a clear victory, Ain HB is miles stronger than Hi-Polymer HB, so the cynic in me is wrong, there really must be two different formulations. Right then, what about between the hardness grades of Ain? There was a small but clear difference – as you might suspect, 2H was stronger than 2B.
So that's strength, what about darkness? Just how much difference is there between the hardness grades? Basically I don't think there is a lot of difference from one grade to the next on the scale, but if you skip a few out then there definitely is a difference in darkness. Anyone could tell 2B from 2H but its pretty difficult spotting the difference between 2B and B. I think they could probably delete every second hardness and not really affect anyone.
I recently had some difficulty with the diameters of some 0.7mm leads, so since my micrometer was handy I ran it across these 0.5mm leads. Grades 2B, B, HB, F, H, and 2H of Ain were all in the 0.565 to 0.57mm range, and the Hi-Polymer HB was 0.56mm. Strictly speaking, if you were correctly rounding to one decimal place, these are all 0.6mm leads, not 0.5mm.
I must admit I'm rather taken by the Ain packaging. I like the clear sided gently curving container and the bright printed graphics. There appears to be a colour coding system in use for the spine and lever top - varying shades of red for the B grades of lead, greens for the H grades, and blues for the HB and F mid-grades. My containers have quite an array of fine print on the back of them relating to plastic recycling. There is some difference in the container markings, indicating it's a changing thing at Pentel. The F container has no recycling information on it, but all the others do. Now I'm not much of an expert, but as far as I can tell, the marks indicate they are recyclable, and are in fact made from some recycled material – polypropylene and whatever 'AS' is. I am guessing its some sort of acrylic-styrene, but I can't find any reference to what the code 'AS' stands for in the plastics recycling schemes. But then again I don't read Japanese.
There are 40 pieces of 60mm long lead in each Ain container. You flip the top open by pressing down on the lever with your thumb. Then you give the container a bit of a shake to dispense some lead. Actually this is not really the best. Sometimes you have to give it quite a good shake to get some leads out, and you can get one, or 2 or 3 at a time. Putting surplus leads back in can also be a bit fiddly. I get the impression it's supposed to be a design that dispenses leads individually, but often lets a few others sneak out.
Now, what about actually writing with the leads! First up I put on my testing hat and did a blind test on the Hi-Polymer HB and Ain HB. Could I tell a difference when just writing under ordinary circumstances? Well, basically no. I had Ain in one pencil and Hi-Polymer in another and swapped them around a few times. I couldn't tell the difference. Ain was of course stronger, it was undefeated in the strength tests of the Lead Cup, but that doesn't mean Hi-Polymer was weak and breaking all the time, because it wasn't. Ain has exceptional strength, but Hi-Polymer is certainly strong enough for normal use.
About 10 years ago I did a year long part-time course in quality assurance. I always remember the time we did a class test on Coke vs Pepsi. This is apparently a standard technique in the food industry. You give the test group three samples each – 2 of one thing and 1 of another and ask them to pick the odd one out. So, my class of 20 or so students were each given three little taster cups of cola – 2 were Coke and 1 was Pepsi. I mean how hard could it be? They taste completely different, don't they? Well, statistically speaking my class couldn't tell them apart. Pretty much 1/3rd of the class chose sample A as the odd one out, 1/3rd chose B and 1/3rd C. The lecturer said he had never had a class that could tell them apart, so as much as I can't believe it, it appears there is no difference between Coke and Pepsi to the taste-buds of the general public. Crazy stuff.
Now note that I said general public. In my class there were two employees from the local Coca-Cola bottling plant. One worked in the laboratory and the other was a genuine 'taste-tester'. The lady from the laboratory could easily pick the Pepsi by taste, we all watched as she did the three way test a few times and could immediately choose the odd-one out. Then it was the taste-testers turn. He was of course stunned at how useless we all were, a bunch of morons unable to tell Coke from Pepsi. I kid you not, he could tell them apart by sight from a few metres away. Blindfolded he could tell them apart by listening to them – the different levels of carbonation making different bubble sounds! Blindfolded and fingers in ears he could sniff them and tell them apart by smell. So, I'm sure the lead experts at Pentel can tell Hi-Polymer from Ain in the blink of eye, but as for the rest of us….
Well that's Hi-Polymer out of the way, what about the different grades of Ain? I spent the rest of the week using two identical pencils, one with Ain HB in it and the other with a different grade – 2H, F or 2B.
All the grades are good smooth writing. 2B was slightly smoother than the harder grades, particularly 2H, and if you rotated the pencil to start on a new part of the leads chisel point then you can tell that the harder the grade the more it dug into the paper and took longer to wear down. When I was using the 2H lead I did keep wanting to press harder to darken things up. I put a page of mixed 2H and HB writing through the photocopier and the 2H copies noticeably lighter. Grade 2B definitely wore down faster than HB, so you get more words per stick of lead with HB. I'd guess about a 25% difference. Actually 2B isn't all that much darker than HB with normal writing, as HB is already quite dark. I did occasionally notice a couple of specks of graphite dust on the page when writing with 2B, and that didn't happen with the others. Overall I think there is more general difference in 2H to HB than HB to 2B. What about that most unusual of grades, F? It's really quite hard to tell any difference from HB. I recall a drawing tutor saying that F had the hardness of H and the darkness of HB, but it's a close call.
Office work can be pretty dangerous stuff. Phalanxes of viciously sharp pencils marching the hallways, ready to impale the unsuspecting newbie intern.
Or perhaps its all just a propaganda campaign by the ink-lords?
To be honest I've never really paid much attention to Zebra's products. In my part of the world only a small number of their pens and other products, including 2 cheaper models of mechanical pencils, are readily available. I had a few packs of their refill leads because their pencils are usually sold as a set including a pack of refill leads, and so I included them in The Lead Cup. To my surprise they performed quite credibly, so I thought I'd better take another look at their mechanical pencils.
The Zebra Jimnie KRM-100 is a fairly standard looking plastic mechanical pencil. It's a simple colour scheme, basically a black rubber grip and the rest of the body is dark grey tinted transparent plastic. It's a lightweight pencil, as you would expect with such construction. The pocket clip is an integral moulding and it's reasonably functional.
The black rubber grip has a definite 'rubber' feel to it, and you know how I'm not very keen on that. The compound is a medium hardness so there is a bit of give under normal finger pressure. Putting on my objective reviewer hat, I will admit that this rubber does improve the grip properties versus normal plastic.
There is a small eraser under the somewhat unusual bullet shaped top cap. The cap reminds me of a robot head from those B-grade 1950's science fiction films. It sort of has ventilation slits in it, and looks like it's a two-piece construction with a clear base or body and a tinted U-piece insert. The eraser itself is a rubber compound, and as usual I'm a bit disappointed in it. You can't put the cap back on without activating the lead advance mechanism.
The lead advance mechanism is a standard push-top ratchet. It has a very good solid positive feel to it when you push the top cap. The 4mm metal slightly conical lead sleeve is fully retractable so its pocket safe. Its also a sliding sleeve so will retract whilst writing as the lead wears down. However I wouldn't recommend that, as it has a terribly scratchy feel across the paper. Push the top cap and advance the lead straight away!
Best Points – The rubber grip is good, and for some reason I really like the robot head top cap.
Not So Good Points – Nothing much considering the price range, except for those like me who aren't really rubber grip people.
Price Range – Low, but you usually get a pack of Drafix lead refills as well so its quite a good deal.
Dimensions – Length 146mm, diameter 9mm across rubber grip. Balance point about 80mm up from the tip.
Note: I haven't seen one, but if you search the web for Zebra Jimnie you basically get the Jimnie Clip which appears to be a similar model but with a document or binder clip. Perhaps the Jimnie has been re-designed and mine is an out-dated variant, even though it's still on sale down-under?